Erik Heyl

He is best known as the author of Early American Steamers, a six-volume work that incorporates illustrations, technical details and service histories of almost 800 steamboats and steamships built mainly in the United States between 1807 and 1870.

Erik's maternal grandfather was Emil Schandein, vice-president of the Pabst Brewing Company and a principal shareholder in the firm.

[2] According to census records, he later worked as a real estate agent,[5] stock and bond salesman[6] and secretary with the ambulance service,[7] before starting his own business as a stamp dealer.

[8] Through his philately, Heyl became intrigued by the fact that some old stamps bore the names of steamboats, which at one time had been involved in the distribution of mail.

[2] He also became a marine illustrator, creating scale drawings and models of old steamboats and steamships derived from the many images he had collected from a variety of sources.

[10] A total of about 800 steamboats and steamships built in the United States between 1807 and 1872 are covered in the work, with the emphasis heavily on Great Lakes and East Coast vessels.

In the first two volumes, the reproductions are quite small—2.5 inches (6.4 cm) high, with a variable width depending on the ship size, and the color (and text) is reddish-brown.

[a] Professor of History René de la Pedraja of Canisius College, New York, has described it as "the essential source" for 19th-century American steam vessels built before 1880.

[8] Erik Heyl died on July 15, 1973, at the Millard Fillmore Hospital, Buffalo, following several weeks of illness; he was 85 years of age.